Themed Outfits For Intellectuals
[ 16 March 2008 ]
I recently had a girl write to me, saying that she was sick of wearing jeans to university every day, & could I please come up with some potential outfits for her to wear? When she added, “Maybe they could be themed according to what people were studying”, a light-bulb went off in my head & I thought, YES! Yes! I WILL do that for you! It’s too great a concept not to.
For the meticulous chemistry student! Wow them with your knowledge of the periodic table & love of heavy metal(s)!
For the zany photography student! Sparkly shoes that catch the light can be used as an impromptu bounce flash!
For the excitable make-up artist in training! T-shirt with snide saying proves your devotion to the art!
For the miniature archaeologist! Perfect for those of you who only ever listen to The Bangles & make terrible jokes!
How does King Tut’s secretary answer his calls?
“He can’t talk right now, he’s all wrapped up!”
For the fledgling illustrator! Ahhhh… this outfit makes me want to be an artist.
Do you ever dress on theme for what you’re studying? I’d love to see a nutritionist wearing a t-shirt by Johnny Cupcakes... someone at police training college wearing a clip-on moustache… or a literature major wearing Busted’s Prose Before Hos tee!
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala ![]()
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As a wanna-be fledgling illustrator, I want to wear that last outfit so badly! It is adorable and divine, and I really love the dress— it is like the perfect complement to a superb area of study! Those shoes are pretty hot, too— I’ve been meaning to get some heeled shoes like that.
Hilarious! But, on some level, doesn’t everyone do this? I mean, if you’re studying something, it’s because you like it – I hope! Kowhaiwhai patterns for the student of Te Reo, greenstone pendant for the NZ history buff, ballerina-picture T-shirts for dance class . . . ? Or maybe that’s just me.
;)
Haha. This is so smart and adorable. I would dress up according to what I study, but since I’m an Apparel & Merchandising major, being all dressed up basically dressing to a theme. :)
And what would the Architecture and Urbanism student wear? รต.o
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that photographer’s shirt
Oh, Gala, since I admit to stalking your polyvore accounts, I couldn’t wait to see what amazing article you’d come up with these outfits!
This is perfect. I’ll be in college next year, and will definitively be dressing to fit my classes (studying Edgar A. Poe? Wear a high collared white shirt, lace booties, satin skirt and a feathered bag! xD).
Love it!
@ Giselle – A black turtle neck & thick rimmed glasses (lol, I’m allowed to make that joke, my BF is a graduate architect)
i’m absolutely in love with this post! even though i probably wont study any of these subjects, i want to wear them all!
i’m especially in love with the sequined chucks…i’ve seen them before. just recently i got a pair of glitter slip-on converse from target and i’m head over heels in love! i want to wear them all the time, even around the house :D
i loove the polka dot dress and those hot pink gloves!
i plan on studying music theatre and fashion/art. i have a t-shirt that says “hold me, i’m a fermata!”
that’s some band geek humor that would work for a music major :]
you’ve also got me hooked on polyvore!
I sphinx egypt! Brilliant!
The organic chemistry book, on the other hand, I find terrifying. But the rest of the outfit dims down the scariness, just a bit. :P
The yellow heels!!
Gorgeous!
these are all so good!
i’m in library school, and i can say that sometimes i definitely succumb to my inner librarian, fashion-wise.
i love the “prose before hos” shirt! i may even stencil that one!
(to the commenter above me) When I was in library school, I totally dressed the part. Not on purpose though. It’s just the way I’ve always dressed. Ha. My friends always thought it was funny that I fit the librarian stereotype.
And Gala, I love the chemistry student outfit. Definitely my favorite.
I was a Japanese major, and so there were a lot of kanji shirts/anime shirts floating around in my classes! I also wore a Kara Janx (from Project Runway) kimono dress for my graduation. For the Nihongo no gakusei, I’d suggest a solid wrap dress with a colorful wide belt over it, bright heeled sandals, a vintage kimono-fabric bag (such as one of the gorgeous ones at Tokyomade!), a kanzashi hairclip from www.peachypan.com, and a Japanese paper parasol.
Of course, iCiNG readers are already well aware of awesome Japanese fashion, so there’s plenty to get inspiration from!
Gala this is awesome, I had such a great time reading this! xD…but you didn’t put laws!
So look at my Laws outfit www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?.mid=...
(i don’t have half of your polyvore talent, but I find it cute!)
Thanks for such a cute post! :D
Sorry, the link doesn’t work, but this will do:
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs28/f/2008/076/f/b/Polyvore_by_anodien.jpg
(boo, it seems that Laws is just too formal..I haven’t found any comical shirt with laws-related phrases!)
i am a law student, and i sometimes wear a silver pendant in the shape of a pair of scales (to represent the scales of justice).
i have an idea to make a t-shirt with a picture of a really stylized snail in a bottle on it, to reference donoghue v stevenson, the first negligence case (which dealt with a woman who found a decomposed snail in a bottle of gingerbeer)
i also study psychology, and i have a freud t shirt that i love.
law is tricky, but sometimes is find it fun to dress up in a prim skirt and blazer, with a fun tee underneath or with really wild, quirky accessories or interesting glasses (a la ghost world)
fran & nessbow — There were lots I wanted to do but couldn’t make work, like law & medical school, as well as psychology, philosophy, etc. Bummer! You’d think it would be easy but it just wasn’t!
I’m double majoring in international studies and french, and I definitely dress according to my studies. I’m always trying to cultivate my traveler look. I love wearing my leather indian sandals with dangly earrings from peru and my pashmina scarf I bought on the street in italy. Sometime globalization is really awesome.
I also try to dress like a french teenager as often as possible, cause while studying abroad for a year I lived next to a really upper-crust high school, and those girls had it going on. All they wore were black skinny jeans, flats, a nice sweater, pearls, and hair in their faces, but they always looked so impeccably put together.
My major is easy to theme dress to. :)
Oh, hey, and check out this etsy store for the chemistry geeks!
www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=...
med school would be cool. just think, you could belt a lab-coat like a dress and wear with patent red stilettos and syringe earrings.
or wear a stethascope as a necklace, or wrap one around your waist as a belt.
or a pill-shaped belt buckle!
there are so many possibilities! this is so much fun!
I’ve always liked the idea of themed outfits, I’m going to have to think of some piano, dancing, event palnning and career counselling ones!
ha ha, I love these Gala! Great idea. I’d love to see more. Can you tell me where that photography shirt is sold? Definately putting that on my ‘to buy’ list.
Mandy — If you click the ‘Product information’ link under the image, it’s all there :>
I have a “communist party” shirt from Threadless, and I totally wore it to my Literary Studies class last semester on the day that we covered Marxism. My professor was very amused.
Aspiring lawyers might want to try this shirt from Glarkware: www.glarkware.com/productcart/...
They also have an “I rock at basic” shirt, which I think I might have to buy for my friend who is a Computer Science major.
Ok, I have no idea why that link didn’t work. Alas. But, uh, just go to the shirts section, and check out the “lawyers do it in front a jury of their peers” shirt, it’s near the bottom.
wow ANOTHER mandy posted just before me, but i’m the one who emailed you!
thanks so much for getting the getting the ball rolling, you definitely have the Midas touch when it comes to putting the different items together! Props…
I did my first one today, wearing a Midsummer Night’s Dream tshirt with quotes on it to my english lit tut!
xx
That is such a cool idea! Do you have any ideas for an Literature outfit?
Haha this is great! Reminds me of how I used to walk around with my lab goggles around my neck in high school… and carry a tote bag with a pretty piece of poetry on it when going to Creative Writing!
...Something tells me I don’t want to dress like a Computer Science major. Stereotypically male & slovenly. How did I get into this?
But Art History or Women and Gender Studies studies? I could totally work with that! (Possible minors)
Haha, I love the heavy metal tshirt, what a great find! I know someone who would just love it.
mm, and the randoseru backpack!
Fabulous, although I do have one thought: open- toed shoes in a chemistry lab? Dangerous. Hahaha.
:P
x
Kirby — My boyfriend said that too! Pffftttt! Logic! ;D
I’m a library science major too; here’s my contribution:
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=10…
I love dressing thematically for class— I’ve done this since, what, middle school? : ) It’s such fun. I have a vaguely 18th-century shirt (elbow sleeves with lace!) for that era, regency dresses for studying Jane Austen, all-black outfits for reading Gothic poetry, the works!
I used to be an animation student. That was easy! Bright colours, cartoon tshirts and generally childish fabrics.
What would journalism student wear… _
luv this post! :D
any ideas for engineers? practically all the girls in my college dress in shirts, jeans & sneakers (no different from guys), and whenever i wear heels its always a big deal to everyone else :P
ahh! i think this was my favorite polyvore post EVER! maybe you can do more with more subjects?? (although…eventually you’d run out of subjects haha)
Oh I’ve always wanted a randoseru!
well I’m a fashion student, so I suppose I dress for that in that I wear fashion. haha.. but apparently at our uni the design students stick out like a sore thumb against other students for being ridiculously overdressed (according to other students!)
k3, my boyfriend studies engineering and when my mum & him & I were talking about how you can tell what course people do by their clothes, he said “engineering students don’t buy clothes, they’re still being dressed by their mothers”
of course it’s not true for girls but SO TRUE for most of the male engineering students I’ve met!
Oooh I love these!
You’re really very talented at creating so many different looks!
I love the makeup artist one – I think it’s the shoes! :)
Aw, these outfits are hilariously fantastic! Im Commerce/Arts, so im disappointed you didnt do something commerce-y. Maybe playing with numbers as a theme? Im too much of a polyvore amateur to have a go. =D
I love the chemistry one! I know lots of people that own shirts related to their interests so I don’t think it’s that weird, but omg these are just so cute! :)
prose before hos! oh, i’m an english major and that definately needs to be in my wardrobe.
this semester i like the theme of ‘british indie public school boy who’s just discovered his fledgling effeminacy’ but it’s been to hot to wear skinny jeans and button up shirts all the time :(
I’m a Theatre Acting major and… I sometimes live upto it. Although when I have acting class skirts, jeans and other restrictive or dangerous bottoms are not allowed. So I’ve stuck with the same yoga pants, pretty lame.
But my style changes all the time… just like parts in plays!
There… that makes sense for my major!
I love this post! Although none of these apply to me (English major/French minor), it’s inspiring!
Heyy!! I’m a photography student and I have sparkly Converse (black ones) I also have a tshirt with a camera and strap printed on it like I’m wearing it :D and a necklace with a big sparkly camera pendant!!
Being obvious rules!!
I love this post!I never thought about dressing for my academic field!well..my academic field being economics it maight be a bit hard..but now you guys inspired me and I’ll have to come up with something!
PS I and I love the archaeologist’s outfit above all others!those sandals!:)
The photography-student-outfit is my favorite!! I studied sociology…how to dress like a sociologist??
ooh, I love the chemistry one
nico, I love the phrase “fledgling effeminacy”.
Computer Studies, maths, and science students, www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ is your friend.
Women’s Studies students should see my dressing like a feminist post: ladyjulianne.blogspot.com/2008…
Sociology, media studies, cultural studies students should try constructing something out of these trading cards to prove we’re just as creative as those art students: www.theory.org.uk/cards.htm (a cop-out, I know)
Psychology students can wear Freud around their neck: www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...
Literature students can diss Freud with a badge: www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?... or surreptitiously quote Shakespeare: www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...
Lady Julianne le Fay — Awesome hints! You’re a champ!
I am a makeup artist in training and that outfit is so perfect! I am fantastically inspired!
bows
I finally found a t-shirt for sociologists and media and cultural studies students too!
www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...
Actually, the shop has some others that might appeal to literature students as well. But yay Foucault!
thanks lady julianne. i’ve totally gotten into your blog now, after you linked it! your article on ‘this is what a feminist looks like’ is brilliant.
xx
I LOVE THIS TEE SHIRT.
www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/japa…
it makes me lol
I LOVE this idea so much that I had to put together an outfit for myself, I study history of art and this is quite similar to my style in real life (but a lot more expensive:p)
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=10…
i LOVE this idea! i’m going to dress as a themed art student now :D (actually i probably do that already – mental patient chic with added paint stains on EVERYTHING.) xxx
I love the miniature archaeologist outfit! .. I would completely wear that if I studied archaeology, would be hilarious!
I actually am an archaeologist (my business card proves it) and I love the hat and earrings. The same comment can be made here for the footwear as the chemist, though: steel-toed boots are de rigeur on site.
Still, very cute outfits here!
What a journalism student should wear: www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...
I’m finishing my master’s degree in publishing. What should I wear? A ring shaped like movable type? A Frankurter Buchmesse tote, certainly. Other ideas?
as a french and linguistics student, i’m half covered – french is way too easy to dress for.
but i’m wracking my brain trying to think of what a cunning linguist should wear! maybe i’ll have to get a schwa t-shirt screen printed…
ooohhh, Gala!
Thank you sooo much!
it’s still coldish, here, but I am very inspired by ALL the looks you showed! Thanks very very much
ciao
chiara
WELL here is my best attempt at what a linguistics student might wear:
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=10…
Excellent outfits, Gala! I’d love to mix the photographer and illustrator together, I’d totally wear the resulting mish mash.
I’m a philosophy student myself, so I would have loved to have seen your interpretation of that! I can imagine that it’s very hard to do, but I get the most comments about looking ‘like a philosopher’ when I wear all or mostly black outfits with my hair up. I’m usually going for the Audrey Hepburn look but ho hum!
p.s. it’s not much but here’s an accessory for the journalists: www.firebox.com/product/1589
the sparkly tennies remind me of some shoes I had when I was a kid… I wish they still fit!
BRILLIANT!!
My art-student cousin always made her own jewellery pieces (but that must be pretty common among arty types). She was also taking an Arabic so she wore beautiful clay pendants and stuff inscribed with Arabic calligraphy, embroidered traditional garments over jeans, and even a dash of sandalwood perfume. And when she was taking a short computer engineering course, she used to have handmade jewellery made out of computer chips/whatever-she-could-get-her-hands-on. _
I love the chemistry student outfit, so witty and cute!
p.s. to Theremina: ooh, i’m gonna get that for my friend, thank you!
I’m a journalism major, and I have a love for folders with Siderman on them [he was a freelance photojournalist!] and my infamous Superman t-shirt that has a cape on it [which I got from the little boy’s pajama section]. Other than that, I have a shirt that makes the difference between There, They’re and Their clear…my journalism school loves grammar :]
Oh my, I’m in LOVE with all the outfits!! Is there any chance you might do some more? I’m going to study English and I’d looooove the perfect outfit! I’d give it a go myself but I don’t really have any Polyvore talent at all I’m afraid! An outfit for drama school, dance or musical performance would be loooovely as well! Hmmm I might give Polyvore a go anyway, I’m so inspired by this! I luuurv it! :D
xxxxxxxx
I don’t think it’s a theme so much, but when I had long hair and I was working, I used to stick paintbrushes in my chignon and then forget I had left them there – my boyfriend would pull them out of my hair, laughing, when I started ranting about how I couldn’t find my no. 2 round sable brush and how frustrating it was …
Maybe I should ask you to post about how to be stylishly attired with the knowledge that whatever you wear will be destroyed, whether it be by paint, flour, dirt, clay …? Only you could help those of us with non-clothing-friendly professions!
i’m an enlish major with an emphasis on literature & yes, i do (on occasion) wear outfits that have an english lit theme.
example#1: img.photobucket.com/albums/v43…
example#2: img.photobucket.com/albums/v43…
& i made a english lit major themed outfit on polyvore too! www.polyvore.com/cgi/img
Cute! I studied drama, and had a t-shirt that read: “I’m an actor!
...May I take your order?” :D
Somehow, my collection of physics dork tshirts has never struck me as particularly stylish. But I try anyway.
I totally have those sequined Converse! I love them.
I am a Psychology/Gender and Sexuality student. The latter of the two could be very easy to dress with all of the inappropriate shirts out there.
i am so so psyched on your archeology outfit. i read your blog all the time although this is the first time i’ve commented. it makes my days just a little more sparkly.
Ohhh, I love those!
I’m another Art student. I study Craft and Home Life. I dress in ALOT of second hand, + I have a soft spot for weird and wonderful pieces.
Since I tend to walk around with a bag full of knitting and embroidery, I really should dress like a Grandma – little dusky pink cardigan, glasses pendant necklace, grey stockings with Brogues.
I just inspired myself.
P.S. I wish I had the balls to wear high heels to school.
I’m a confused student at the moment, as I’m deciding whether to continue on with Urban Design or swap into IT but this is a list of “I Wants” that I decided to put together using your post as inspiration. Pretty much what I’d wear every day if work would let me :)
sweetlolimillie.blogspot.com/2…
I suppose I dress as what I am too – I often get called ‘Dorethy’ or ‘Alice’ or get told I look as if I fell out of a storybook or perhaps that I look like a doll or a steampunk. I think it’s natural to express yourself with what’s around you…and what’s around you more often than your clothes?
Millie – that heart shaped USB necklace is so cool! Where is it from?
xx
i have a classmate who has a lovely t-shirt with a print of a stethoscope around his neck and a pen in the breast pocket. it’s genius.
i looove the archeologist one.
I’m a psychology student
and I also gave it a try…
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=10…
I mixed what I wear with a little bit of what people think we wear
x,
Oh, Gala, you are ever wonderful. :]]]
Heather – I found a link for you if you haven’t already found it
www.everythingusb.com/philips_…
Thanks Millie :) Such a shame it’s too expnsive!
what about commerce students?
I wonder what pharmacy students would wear.. hmm. :]
I would definitely wear things that fits my personality with my course if not only my university requires uniform. bummer. But this would be my perfect school wear.
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=10…
Super love and turtles!! I saw that heavy metals shirt on thinkgeek.com a while back and fell in love with it!! I alaso like that you matched outifts with majors, the photography one was amazing!!
Okay, late, but I HAD to give it a try too!
So here’s what I came up with… so far. ;D
The Psychology Student
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=10…
The Young Revolutionary
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=10…
Retro.Bunny — Those outfits are amazing :D Yay you!
Awe! I wish you had some for English Majors!